Riverview Toby sees them all off…

…The Final of the Northumberland Plate was an exciting event with trap 1 Riverview Toby triumphing over Belpac Tomas, trap 2, with Lundhill Flash,scratch dog, running from trap 6 into 3rd place.

The trap ‘R’ numbers, showing the lengths received, were printed in the Racing Post on Tuesday: -

Droopys Rocokoko R3 – means 3 metres off of the 670 metres = 667m.
Time and Time Again R5 – 5m off = 665m
Lundhill Flash R5 –5m off = 665m
Portant Lady R6 – 6m off = 664m
Bellpac Tomas R8 – 8m off = 662m
Riverview Toby R10–10m off = 660m

I was amazed at the leeway Riverview Toby got with, effectively, a 7 metre start (although listed 10 metres, as Droopys Rokocoko was given R3 metres from the starting line).

I spoke to an old hand at the game, called Ginger, who told me that in handicaps such as this the dogs keep their handicap marks throughout the heats. He said that the original 'scratch' dog at the beginning of the competition must have been knocked out in the heats! So there you have it. No wonder Riverview Toby looked such a good thing!

My total outlay on the heats and the Final was 10 points and as I had already picked up 14 points in the heats and Droopys Rokocoko made 3rd place at 12/1 (I got 3 points return) making 17 points, my total profit was 7 points.

I learned some things about this excercise on handicaps but I wouldn't mind betting that a lot of punters don't know what they are betting on when it comes to dog racing handicaps.

I for one, will know next time. Well done those who bet Riverview Toby !

Hopefully my next blog will contain a graph of the Steel City Cup at Sheffield on Saturday - if I get around to it...

Come racing!!